Patch of The Week: Blade Runner / Vangelis CS-80 Sounds - Gemini Trilogy Part 3

video upload by AJH Synth Official

AJH Synth Official Patch of The Week series

"3 Variations of a patch based on the sounds from the original 1982 Blade Runner movie, which were originally created on a Yamaha CS-80 by the composer Vangelis. This version uses a monophonic setup with the AJH Synth Gemini 2412 dual VCF.

This is Part 3, see Part 1 & 2 of this series featuring the Gemini - Part 2 features brass sounds, partly derived from this patch, but loosely inspired by Jean-Michel Jarre (Oxygene) and other 1970's-80's sounds. Part 1 features a simple performance bringing versions of the sounds from both parts 2 & 3 together.

The CS-80 was fully polyphonic, and has remained hugely expensive to this day. It used two 'channels' per voice, each being a complete 2-VCO synth voice in itself, with both a high pass and low pass filter in series (HP into LP). It's known for having an exceptionally bright sound, which is difficult to match.

The Gemini 2412 is a dual multi-mode filter, each having low pass, band pass, high pass, and variable LP/HP, along with Dual (both filters mixed in parallel) and Cascade modes (first filter into second filter). Both filters are connected to a voltage-controlled cross-fader, or can be used as 2 entirely separate VCF's. It's based on the VCF from the original Oberheim SEM module, but also has a high-resonance option selectable by jumpers of the rear of the module, which is capable self-oscillation.

Patch Sheet PDF for this video: https://kvisit.com/8AE/qfkG

Patch notes also below.

Patch Notes:
Green dots show approximate pot and switch positions. Those with two dots show the range I adjust them during the video. Pots and switches that do not have green dots are not used in this patch, and should be left at their zero or off positions.
In the video I'm using the Glide + Noise MkII module to access the CV Bus, allowing me to control both VCO's from one input/cable. If you are not able to use the CV Bus you will need to use a multiple or stacking cable to connect the keyboard to each VCO's 1V/Oct input, as is usual with a fully modular synth.
VCO: It's very important to get the tuning just right - the two VCO's need to be just slightly detuned, so that they slowly tear into each other, as in the video. Sawtooths are the best choice of waveform for brass-like sounds.
Gemini 2412: Here I've used the OUT1 output, but you could also just use the LP output, bypassing the need to set the filter type on the rotary switch. Note that D-FCV LEVEL also affects the frequency of the filter, and subsequently how much it is affected by incoming CV at FCV1.
Modules used from top-left to bottom-right: Glide + Noise MkII (optional), Vintage Transistor Core VCO (x2), Gemini 2412, Contour Generators, Discrete Cascaded VCA, Muting Mixer & VCA.
See downloadable version for notes pertaining to the other two variations.